On September 27,
2007 the president signed the hotly debated FDA �reform� legislation into
law, which does nothing but give the highly dysfunctional FDA management
team more power. FDA ineptitude is costing Americans dearly. The FDA does
not need more power or money, it needs management that truly has the health
and well-being of consumers as its top priority. FDA crimes of commission
and omission are becoming more evident with every passing day. Here are
some of the top recent headlines.

FDA Condones Unsafe
Human Experiments

The New
York Times reports that the FDA fails to ensure the safety of millions
of people who participate in experimental clinical trials. In fact, the
government doesn�t even have any idea how many of these experiments are
taking place. The FDA haphazardly follows up on less than 1%, and when
problems are found little or nothing is done.

The New York Times
outlines several horror stories of individuals stuck in an unscrupulous
system, as well as the near total lack of FDA oversight. This is one more
example of FDA ineptitude � which is comprised of a very long list of
transgressions against the citizens of this country. Let�s call a spade
a spade, the FDA is little more than a police force bully serving as the
gatekeeper to profits for elite companies at the expense of human health.
Taking any drug is like playing Russian roulette.

FDA, Bush, and
Republicans Attack Citizen�s Health Rights

The FDA reform legislation
passed by the House and Senate shows just how corrupt the politics for
profit system in America has become. The idea that citizens would have
no right to sue a drug company when they are injured or killed by a medication
is a difficult pill to swallow. Especially in light of multiple scandals,
many ongoing, wherein the FDA and drug companies selectively hide important
risks from the public in an effort to protect the profits of Big Pharma
at the expense of human health.

The Bush
administration and a majority of Republicans are beholden to the Big
Pharma golden idol and are doing everything in their power to directly
undermine rights of all Americans. At issue is the legal point known as
preemption, which means a ruling at the federal level that preempts or
supersedes rights of a citizen in state courts. The Republican Big Pharma
cartel, who have been instructing the FDA on policy, have concocted a
labeling scheme for drugs that says once the FDA approves a label for
a drug then it is free of all legal liability � in essence blocking the
rights of citizens to sue in State court.

This borders on the
insane. Seldom are the risks of approved drugs known at the time of approval.
The FDA has a track record of hiding safety information from the public
to protect its sagging image and the profits of Big Pharma. The FDA has
thousands of drugs on the market and has no clear idea of their risks.
Deaths from drugs have doubled in the last five years. Big Pharma has
proven consistently that it puts profits ahead of human health � even
when death is a known risk.

In the current FDA
reform legislation, House Democrats were barely able to negotiate a weak
compromise that keeps open the right of citizens to sue, keeping the issue
in a confused court system that is split on pending cases. The issue is
now coming before the Supreme Court, and being Republican dominated, is
likely to go the way of Big Pharma.

Meaningful FDA reform
has been degraded into a profit preservation plan for Big Pharma, with
truly meaningful health protection and health rights for out citizens
taking a back seat.

Media is Part
of the Big Pharma Cartel

Have you ever wondered
why the media speaks so highly of drugs and paints safe and effective
dietary supplements as either not effective or even dangerous? As the
House and Senate finally agreed to a near useless FDA reform and financing
package it became painfully clear that advertising dollars were far more
important than health or safety of Americans.

Big Pharma had been
so beaten up by its fraudulent and deceptive marketing of dangerous drugs
that it focused its lobbyists on minimizing damages and maintaining its
monopoly on high prices for drugs in the U.S. compared to any other country
in the world � something Senate Republicans were happy to support (in
return for Big Pharma $$$).

The surprise came
on direct to consumer advertising which Big Pharma didn�t even try to
defend as the were sure they had no leg to stand on. Media
and advertising lobbyists realized they were about to loose a huge
cash cow. They went into full swing and spent a fortune to portray a restriction
on direct to consumer advertising as a violation of Big Pharma�s first
amendment rights. The rights of Big Pharma to deceive, injure, and kill
Americans are preserved � with the media as a main player in the con game
and the blessing of a congress on the take.

Drug-related Deaths
and Serious Injuries Have Doubled

The FDA
reports that between 1998 and 2005 deaths and serious injuries from
drugs has doubled, a rate of injury significantly faster than the increase
in prescriptions. 51 drugs are responsible for the increase, with new
biotech drugs that modulate the immune system at the top of the list.
85% percent of those suffering did not have any label warning that the
drug they were taking could produce the serious health problem, injury,
or death.

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While it is nice
that the FDA filled out a report card on its post-marketing drug surveillance
competency, it does not change the fact that the grade is an F. For decades
the FDA has done the dirty work of the drug companies, allowing dangerous
drugs like Vioxx on the market and when a hundred thousand people die
the cases are all tied up in court indefinitely. Now the FDA
wants to become a drug company. It is little wonder that 75% of Americans
don�t trust the FDA.

Richards
encourages individuals to take charge of their health, stand up for their
health rights, and not blindly succumb to propaganda from the vested-interests
who profit from keeping Americans sick. As founder of Wellness Resources,
Inc. of Minneapolis, MN, an independently-owned fine-quality dietary supplement
company since 1985, he has personally developed 75 unique nutraceutical-grade
nutritional formulas. www.wellnessresources.com